October's British Vogue has a cover story on Kristen Stewart — reported prior to the cheating scandal, but fated to be pored over by tabloid reporters seeking signs of the trouble to come like so many messages in the tea leaves. The actor told the magazine that she is — shockingly — uncomfortable at times with her fame:

"People expect it to be easy because there you are, out there, doing the thing that you want and making lots of money out of it. But, you know, I'm not that smooth. I can get clumsy around certain people. Like if I were to sit down and think, 'OK, I'm really famous, how am I going to conduct myself in public?' I wouldn't know who that person would be!"

Michelle Obama wore a Tracy Reese dress and J. Crew heels to deliver her speech at the Democratic National Convention last night. And Tracy Reese is obviously thrilled. [@Tracy_Reese
]
A good-news coda to last season's kerfuffleover
Marc Jacobs' historic refusal
to pay his models, including a minor who worked for the company for over 30 unpaid hours: buried at the end of this Observer
piece is mention of the fact that this season, all Marc Jacobs models will be given the choice of monetary compensation for their work or payment in "trade" (designer clothing). Jacobs should be commended for taking this step. Perhaps his influence will extend to other New York designers who don't pay their models? [NYObs
]
Carine Roitfeld's new magazine, CR Fashion Book
, launched its Web site! It's pretty, like this picture of Roitfeld's daughter, Julia Restoin-Roitfeld, when she was pregnant. Roitfeld explains in her editor's letter that the theme of the first issue is birth:

When something is consuming your thoughts, you suddenly notice it everywhere. When I learned that my daughter, Julia, was expecting, I immediately began seeing babies and new mothers on planes, at fashion shows, in New York and in Paris. Birth and rebirth all around. I became obsessed. At the same time, I was thinking and dreaming about the first issue of this magazine, which you are reading now. This issue takes rebirth as its theme and is filled with both images and ideas about birth, pregnancy, and family. The promise of youth, the force of age, and the rush of all things new. It's an escape, a fashion fairy tale. It's a dream of a better life-because fashion is meant to make us dream.

Nick Knight photographed Lindsey Wixson for Garage
in a Roy Lichtenstein-inspired shoot. Perez Hilton did the captioning. [The Cut
]
Here's an image from Barneys fall campaign, featuring models Arizona Muse and Magda Laguinge playing lovers in Paris. Paolo Roversi shot it. [WWD
]
Sanya Richards Ross, the Olympic champion sprinter, says she knows her hair slows her down, but she likes to wear it long, anyway: "I do shave my legs, but I don't think it's that big of a deal in terms of wind resistance. With my hair, most of the time I'll pull it back, and have it half up, half down. People always say it slows me down some, but I just like looking fabulous, so I don't care. [Laughs] It wouldn't be that dramatic of a difference, anyway. They actually did research on it after my race in London and figured out how much it slowed me down, and they said probably like 1/10 of a second. I think it's worth it. I'll work harder in my workouts, so I can get a little bit faster, rather than lose this hair." Richards Ross, who wore Chanel earrings to win gold in the 400m in London, adds, "My entire family is really into fashion. If you saw my grandmother, you'd understand. She'll get totally decked out to go to the grocery store — I'm talking about a statement necklace, the whole thing. We all love to look nice, we all pay attention to trends, so I just bring that with me to the track because it's part of who I am." [Into The Gloss
]

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals just released its ruling in the Christian Louboutin/Yves Saint Laurent trademark case. Louboutin sued YSL to protect its trademark on the use of red soles in footwear after YSL refused to remove from sale a pair of red-soled YSL shoes it had made. A lower court ruled against Louboutin and suggested that trademarking a color should not be permitted in fashion because it harmed competition, throwing into doubt the validity of Louboutin's trademark. Louboutin appealed, and the appeals court judge ruled in his favor — mostly. It ruled that Louboutin does have the right to a trademark on red soles, but only on red soles that contrast with the shoe uppers. Because YSL's shoes were red all over (and part of a collection of other all-over colored shoes, like purple shoes with purple soles and green shoes with green soles), the court held that YSL didn't violate Louboutin's trademark. So Louboutin gets to keep his trademark, YSL gets to make its shoes, and Zara and H&M do not get to make red-soled Louboutin knock-offs. Interesting. [WSJ]

Katie Holmes reportedly picked up a new gig as the face of Bobbi Brown cosmetics. [WWD]

Rihanna and Stella McCartney have "mood calls," according to someone who has apparently been listening in to the pop star's calls. "Stella rings Rihanna and asks her to explain what has influenced her mood that day — colours, textures, patterns. Stella feels she needs to tap into a younger generation and Rihanna is happy to help." [Daily Mail]

Donna Karan says she's "a mess" on the day of her fashion show — every time. "It's like going to the dentist — you will never like it," says the designer. [WWD]

The Victoria & Albert museum is planning a major exhibition on David Bowie. The Gucci-sponsored show will feature artifacts from Bowie's papers including handwritten lyrics, photographs and album artwork, and, of course, Bowie's clothes. It will open next March. [Telegraph]

It's Wednesday. Are you ready for an update on the fate of the Garment District, and domestic apparel manufacturing more broadly? Here you go:

The U.S. is expected to see a manufacturing renaissance within the next five years, according to a report released this spring by the Boston Consulting Group. With wages in China climbing at an annual rate of about 17 percent and the value of the yuan also on the rise, the gap between American and Chinese wages is narrowing. In addition, government incentives in Mississippi, South Carolina and Alabama are making these and several states more competitive alternatives for companies with U.S. clients.

There are 7,100 apparel manufacturers within New York's Garment District and 284 contractors for all different kinds of production, according to Susan Chin, executive director of the Design Trust for Public Space. Citywide, there are about 28,000 manufacturers, making fashion the leading manufacturing sector in the city.

But you should manage your expectations of the industry's comeback: "Nobody thinks it will even come close to its heyday of the Fifties and Sixties, when factories flourished from Midtown Manhattan to the Carolinas and the industry employed more than one million people." [WWD]

Anne Fulenwider, formerly the editor of Brides, will become the editor of Marie Claire when Joanna Coles takes over from the retiring Kate White at Cosmopolitan. [WWD]

This NYC-centric roundup of Fashion's Night Out events with free food and/or alcohol is kind of withering to behold. [Fashionista]

This is a bit of a shakeup: Karlie Kloss, by far the most successful American model of her generation, has switched agencies. She left Next for IMG, which represents Gisele Bündchen, among many others. [WWD]

Fashionista speculates that Kloss may also have cut ties with her mother agents, who "discovered" her, negotiated her agency contracts, and earned a split of her subsequent earnings. The mother agency, which is named Mother, last week updated its Facebook page to read, "Mother is not defined by one model." [Fashionista]

Model Clara Settje, 19, did one season of fashion shows in New York City when she was 16. And then, says Settje, "my mom was smart so she put me back in school. I went to a Christian private school in Texas, which is always lovely when you're a model because they automatically think you're a Playboy model." [WWD]

In other model news: an enormous, Ugg-wearing Tom Brady is now painted on the side of a building opposite Madison Square Garden. [FN]

Aerin Lauder's shoe line will hit stores this spring and retail for $179-$400. [WWD]

Fashionista launched a new online video series: a cooking show featuring notable fashion personalities. First up is Joe Zee of Elle, who cooks lobster rolls. [Fashionista]

Yesterday, it was announced that Hermès was suing Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy for insider trading, collusion, and manipulation of stock prices related to its stealthy acquisition of over 17% of the company in October, 2010. (LVMH has since upped its stake to 22.3% of the largely family owned but publicly traded Hermès.) Today, LVMH announced it is counter-suing Hermès for slander, blackmail, and unfair competition. [WWD]

Women's Wear Daily has a quick cheat-sheet primer on the state of the American fashion business. What's changed since last year, company by company, including, Sears — Living up to expectations," "Betsey Johnson — Retail licensee went belly up," "Tory Burch — Frustrating suitors, still," and, "Wal-Mart — Fending off Mexican bribery scandal, happy in basics land; defining 'aspirational fashion' as 'a polo shirt with a stripe.'" [WWD]

Sales rose 23% year-on-year during the quarter just ended at Compagnie Financière Richemont, the parent company of Net-A-Porter and Chloé. [WWD]

And now, a moment with Coco Rocha. Coco, why is it so important for models to be able to have a voice in (and about) their work?

"For so long we were told that we had to be quiet, hush-hush, that fashion had to be untouchable. In the beginning I thought maybe I shouldn't do that or say that or take that job because it's not high fashion enough. But when high fashion is done with you, guess what? You go back to your parents' basement and no one ever hears from you again."